A man was arrested and charged with felony assault after throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington, D.C., earlier this week. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed on Thursday that the man worked for the Department of Justice.
A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWa7r4B3ihg">video</a> recorded by a bystander showed 37-year-old Sean Charles Dunn confronting federal agents who were dispatched under President Donald Trump&#8217;s order to federalize the D.C. police department and address the capital&#8217;s violent crime. In the video, Dunn shouts at the federal agents, calling them &#8220;fascists&#8221; and yelling, &#8220;F*** you!&#8221;
Dunn began to walk away with his Subway sandwich, but then returned and asked bystanders which vehicles the federal agents were using. He then crossed the street and approached a group of federal agents. He continued to berate the federal law enforcement officers before winding up and throwing his sandwich at the chest of an agent. A foot chase ensued before the DOJ employee was arrested.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/FBI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBI</a> arrested this individual last night.
He has been charged with felony assault on a federal officer. <a href="https://t.co/GY2DBr9rUP">pic.twitter.com/GY2DBr9rUP</a>
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1955980832998350883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
In a <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1956010229348413694">post</a> on X Thursday morning, AG Bondi said that she &#8220;just learned that this defendant worked at the Department of Justice.&#8221; Bondi added that Dunn was fired from the DOJ and charged with a felony.
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&#8220;This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,&#8221; Bondi added. &#8220;You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.&#8221;
The criminal complaint against Dunn says that he admitted to throwing the sandwich at the officer, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/13/us-news/dc-man-sean-charles-dunn-charged-with-felony-assault-after-hitting-federal-agent-with-subway-sandwich/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">reported</a>.  U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said that the suspect thought his action &#8220;was funny.&#8221;
&#8220;Well, he doesn&#8217;t think it&#8217;s funny today because we charged him with a felony: assault on a police officer,&#8221; Pirro added. &#8220;And we&#8217;re going to back the police to the hilt, so there, stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Assault a law enforcement officer, and you’ll be prosecuted.
This guy thought it was funny—well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged him with a felony. <a href="https://t.co/O0NVAFDZrU">pic.twitter.com/O0NVAFDZrU</a>
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1955704405161808286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump&#8217;s move to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and send in federal agents and the National Guard to address violent crime has met pushback from local and Congressional Democrats. Some D.C. residents have also taken to the streets to protest Trump&#8217;s law and order directive. Some D.C. residents gathered on city streets Wednesday night, shouting at federal agents with messages such as, “Go home, fascists” and “Get off our streets,&#8221; the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-police-takeover-trump-crime-national-guard-6afb751c7691e8f184057d8a16ddbbe7">reported</a>.
Federal agents, in collaboration with the D.C. police department, have made around 150 arrests since Trump ordered them to tackle violent crime in the nation&#8217;s capital.

Federal agents/Subway

DOJ Employee Faces Felony After Chucking Sandwich At Federal Agent To Protest Trump’s D.C. Takeover

Crime

Donald Trump

Pam Bondi

Police

Trump Administration

Washington D.C.

An Obama-appointed Manhattan federal judge denied the Trump administration&#8217;s request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case against Jeffrey Epstein associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, saying that move &#8220;would not reveal new information of any consequence.&#8221;
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled on Monday that the Trump administration did not make a compelling case to reveal grand jury testimony, which is kept secret to protect privacy, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/us-news/manhattan-judge-denies-trump-admin-bid-to-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-transcripts/">reported</a>. In his decision, Engelmayer blasted the Justice Department&#8217;s argument for seeking to unseal the transcripts.
“Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false,” the judge wrote, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-trump-grand-jury.html">CNBC</a>.
“The Court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence,” Engelmayer added.
The ruling is yet another setback for the DOJ in its effort to give the public more information about the Epstein case after backlash to the department&#8217;s conclusion that there was no evidence that Epstein kept a client list. Last month, a federal judge in Florida <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hands-are-tied-federal-judge-denies-dojs-request-to-unseal-epstein-grand-jury-transcripts?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=%E2%80%98Hands+Are+Tied%E2%80%99%3A+Federal+Judge+Denies+DOJ%E2%80%99s+Request+To+Unseal+Epstein+Grand+Jury+Transcripts">denied</a> the Trump administration&#8217;s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the investigation into Epstein. In that decision, Judge Robin L. Rosenberg — another Obama appointee — said that &#8220;the Court&#8217;s hands are tied&#8221; as the law does not allow her to unseal the grand jury testimony.
Judge Engelmayer added in his decision that the Maxwell grand jury transcripts &#8220;do not contribute anything to public knowledge.&#8221;
“A member of the public &#8230; might conclude that the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such,” Engelmayer wrote. “Contrary to the Government’s depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest. Far from it. It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents.”
Maxwell, who recently agreed to sit down with the Justice Department and answer questions related to Epstein for two straight days, has been pushing for a pardon from President Donald Trump, as she also appeals her case to the Supreme Court. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in the Epstein scheme to sexually abuse and exploit minor girls. She is currently serving out a 20-year sentence and was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-moved-from-florida-prison-to-lower-security-facility">moved</a> to a lower-security prison shortly after her meeting with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Last week, Maxwell&#8217;s attorneys came out in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-opposes-doj-move-to-unseal-grand-jury-transcripts">opposition</a> to releasing the grand jury transcripts, saying, “Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not. Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.”
Another DOJ request to unseal grand jury testimony related to Epstein&#8217;s indictment in Manhattan is still sitting before another federal judge.

Patrick McMullan Archives

Obama-Appointed Judge Denies Trump Admin Request To Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Transcripts

Judge Denies Trump Admin's Request To Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Transcripts

Ghislaine Maxwell

Jeffrey Epstein

Judge

WASHINGTON—The FBI is investigating the Saturday night beating of a man and woman in Cincinnati, The Daily Wire has learned.
The FBI launched an investigation into the matter at Attorney General Pam Bondi&#8217;s direction, a Justice Department official shared with The Daily Wire on Monday evening. The official also said the bureau is already conducting interviews with suspects.
The news comes after Vice President JD Vance and other members of President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vance-calls-for-man-caught-in-viral-video-punching-woman-to-be-jailed-for-a-very-long-time">condemned the incident</a>, which took place Saturday night at the Cincinnati Music Festival.
<a href="https://x.com/still_hustling/status/1949142756196065519">Footage showed</a> a violent mob throwing a man to the ground and kicking and punching him, then punching a woman in the face and apparently knocking her unconscious. The video quickly went viral online, and the city’s police chief vowed to identify and find the culprits responsible for the “cruel and absolutely unacceptable” behavior.
<div id="attachment_953485" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-investigating-brutal-cincinnati-mob-beating-interviewing-suspects/vice-president-jd-vance-speaks-on-passage-of-president-trumps-one-big-beautiful-bill-2" rel="attachment wp-att-953485"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-953485" class="wp-image-953485 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2226783517-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2226783517-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2226783517-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2226783517-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2226783517.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Vice President JD Vance in Canton, Ohio. (Photo by Maddie McGarvey-Pool/Getty Images)</div>
“What I saw, and I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person and it’s disgusting,” Vance <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1949850196143174059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said of the incident</a>. “And I hope every single one of those people who engaged in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.&#8221;
&#8220;And they will be,&#8221; he added. &#8220;They will be so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio take their jobs seriously.”
Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police President Ken Kober also condemned the violence, including the people who watched the mob beat the two individuals without attempting to help.
“The violence this video shows downtown is disgusting,” Kober told the local news outlet <a href="https://www.fox19.com/2025/07/27/ll-cool-j-brings-surprise-guest-stage-during-final-night-cincinnati-music-festival/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WLWT</a>. “What’s equally disgusting is those who chose to watch and record instead of calling 911, attempting to defuse the situation or render aid.&#8221;
&#8220;I have full faith in the Central Business Section Investigators — they will make arrests in the near future,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It will then be the responsibility of the court system to hold these violent thugs accountable.”

US-POLITICS-JUSTICE-DRUGS-BONDI

FBI Investigating Brutal Cincinnati Mob Beating, Interviewing Suspects

Cincinnati

J.D. Vance

Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell gave the Department of Justice information on “100 different people” linked to child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, her lawyer David Oscar Markus told reporters on Friday, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/25/us-news/ghislaine-maxwell-gave-doj-info-about-100-different-people-linked-to-jeffrey-epstein-lawyer-says/">the New York Post</a>.
Maxwell met with the DOJ on Thursday and Friday and was grilled by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, answering &#8220;every single question,&#8221; according to Markus.
“This was the first opportunity she’s ever been given to answer questions about what happened,” Maxwell&#8217;s lawyer said. “The truth will come out about what happened with Mr. Epstein, and she’s the person who’s answering those questions.”
Markus did not say whether Maxwell&#8217;s discussions with the DOJ tied anyone else to Epstein&#8217;s crimes. Markus was challenged by one reporter about two previous perjury counts against Maxwell, and replied by pointing to the federal government dropping those charges after she was convicted of sex trafficking.
The Trump administration is pursuing multiple avenues to release more information on the Epstein case after facing criticism for its handling of the investigation. The DOJ is also requesting that federal judges in New York and Florida unseal grand jury transcripts in Epstein&#8217;s and Maxwell&#8217;s cases. A federal judge in Florida <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hands-are-tied-federal-judge-denies-dojs-request-to-unseal-epstein-grand-jury-transcripts">denied</a> the DOJ&#8217;s request earlier this week, saying that her &#8220;hands are tied&#8221; and she does not have the authority to release the sensitive records.
Maxwell is in the process of appealing her conviction, and some commentators and legal analysts have floated that Epstein&#8217;s co-conspirator is providing more information to the DOJ in hopes of securing clemency from President Donald Trump.
As the DOJ was questioning Maxwell, Trump was asked Friday morning if he would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-hes-allowed-to-pardon-ghislaine-maxwell-keeps-option-open-after-doj-meeting">consider a pardon</a> for the sex trafficker, who is serving a 20-year sentence.
“It’s something I haven’t thought about,” Trump responded. “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about.”
Maxwell&#8217;s lawyer commented on a potential pardon or commutation, calling Trump &#8220;the ultimate dealmaker,&#8221; adding, “We hope he exercises that power in a right and just way.
On Thursday, Markus said that Maxwell was questioned &#8220;all day,&#8221; but he did not comment &#8220;on the substance&#8221; of the meeting, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-doj-official-todd-blanche-meeting-with-ghislaine-maxwell/">reported</a>.
&#8220;This is the first time that the government has asked questions, so we were thankful that the deputy attorney general came and asked her questions. It&#8217;s the first time the government did it. So it was a good day,&#8221; Markus added.
Deputy Attorney General Blanche <a href="https://x.com/dagtoddblanche/status/1948519521071047090?s=46">said</a> in an X post after Thursday&#8217;s meeting that the DOJ &#8220;will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.&#8221;

Ghislaine Maxwell Gave DOJ Info On 100 People Linked To Epstein, Her Lawyer Says

President Donald Trump on Thursday dismissed the controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein as a &#8220;Democrat CON JOB,&#8221; saying that further revelations would &#8220;put an end to this HOAX.&#8221;
Trump took to Truth Social to comment on Democrats&#8217; sudden fascination with Epstein, after years of either ignoring the case or actively blocking Republicans from releasing Epstein&#8217;s flight logs.
&#8220;The Radical Left Democrats are doing everything in their power to distract and obfuscate from our GREAT six months of service to America, results of which many are saying is the BEST six months in Presidential history,&#8221; Trump posted.
&#8220;They have gone absolutely CRAZY, and are playing another Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax but, this time, under the guise of what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;As things are revealed and, I hope will take place quickly, you will see that it is yet another Democrat CON JOB. Hopefully, the Grand Jury Files will put an end to this HOAX. Everyone should see what is there, but people who are innocent should not be hurt. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!&#8221;
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday met with longtime Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell — who is currently serving 20 years for her role in Epstein&#8217;s crimes — and said he planned to continue the interview Friday.
&#8220;Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time,&#8221; he posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.
— Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) <a href="https://twitter.com/DAGToddBlanche/status/1948519521071047090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
According to her attorney, Maxwell has agreed to &#8220;testify truthfully&#8221; and appreciates the president&#8217;s &#8220;commitment to uncovering the truth.&#8221;

President Trump Hosts Phillipines President Marcos At The White House

Trump Dismisses Epstein Case ‘HOAX’ As His Justice Department Interviews Ghislaine Maxwell

Trump Dismisses Epstein Case 'HOAX' As His Justice Department Interviews Ghislaine Maxwell

Department of Justice

Politics

Sex Crimes

Louisville, Kentucky, announced on Tuesday that it would take steps to remove its &#8220;sanctuary city&#8221; status, a designation imposed by the Trump administration earlier this year.
The Louisville Metro Department of Corrections will now honor immigration detainers filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which the federal law enforcement agency uses to ensure it can gain custody over illegal aliens arrested by local authorities.
Democrat Mayor Craig Greenberg said the Trump administration informed him that the city was in violation of federal law by refusing to comply with the detainer requests. In a letter, the Justice Department warned that other jurisdictions in violation had been hit with legal action and freezes on federal funding. Greenberg <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/22/us-news/louisville-drops-sanctuary-city-policies-after-threat-from-trump-admin-the-stakes-are-too-high/">commented</a> on the decision to revive a policy to hold illegal aliens for up to an additional 48 hours, explaining that doing so would remove the &#8220;sanctuary city&#8221; designation.
&#8220;I have been assured by the U.S. Department of Justice that, if we reinstate the 48-hour detainers for inmates who&#8217;ve been arrested for crimes, Louisville will be taken off the federal sanctuary city list,&#8221; Greenberg <a target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
He added that the city caved to the Trump administration because “the stakes are too high,” referencing the recent deployment of military forces to Los Angeles last month that were triggered by protests over ICE raids.
“We do not want the National Guard occupying the streets of Louisville,” said Greenberg. “Cities on the sanctuary city list right now are experiencing a terrifying increase in raids by ICE, including mass raids&#8230;Just look at what’s gone on in LA and other cities.”
Greenberg did note, however, that the city’s cooperation with ICE would be limited to complying with detainer requests and that local police would not assist the federal government in immigration enforcement, as some state and local law enforcement agencies <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-dhs-partners-with-100s-of-police-departments-to-supercharge-deportation-campaign">across the country</a> have done.
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the city’s decision to comply with ICE detainer requests as “a major victory for the Department of Justice.”
“The city of Louisville is dropping its sanctuary city policies as a result of a strong written warning from my office,” Bondi <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1947659049450815554">posted</a> on X on Tuesday. “This should set an example to other cities. Instead of forcing us to sue you — which we will, without hesitation — follow the law, get rid of sanctuary policies, and work with us to fix the illegal immigration crisis.”

ICE Arrest

Blue City Abandons ‘Sanctuary City’ Policy After Warning From Trump Administration

deportation

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Kentucky

Louisville

Sanctuary Cities

A poll from Reuters/Ipsos conducted this week showed that a large majority of Americans believe the federal government is hiding information on the Jeffrey Epstein case, as President Donald Trump calls those continuing to focus on the case &#8220;pretty bad people.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-TRUMP/EPSTEIN-POLL/zjvqoexxgvx/">poll</a>, which surveyed 1,027 U.S. adults and ran on Tuesday and Wednesday, found that 69% of respondents said that the federal government is covering up details about Epstein&#8217;s alleged client list. Only 6% said there was no cover-up, and 25% said they were unsure or did not answer. The survey results also showed that around two-thirds of Republicans believe the government is hiding something about Epstein&#8217;s supposed clients.
On Epstein&#8217;s death, 60% of Americans said the federal government is hiding information from the public, including 55% of Republicans.
Trump has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-epstein-story-is-kept-alive-by-pretty-bad-people-including-fake-news?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Says+Epstein+Story+Is+Kept+Alive+By+%E2%80%98Pretty+Bad+People%2C+Including+Fake+News%E2%80%99">asked</a> about the case multiple times this week, and on Wednesday, he lashed out at his &#8220;past supporters&#8221; who he says have fallen for a &#8220;hoax&#8221; pushed by Democrats.
&#8220;Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this &#8216;bulls***&#8217; hook, line, and sinker,&#8221; he wrote on Truth Social. &#8220;They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.&#8221; He added that he no longer wants the support of those who continue to focus on the Epstein case.
In a press gaggle on Tuesday night, Trump told reporters, “I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sordid, but it’s boring, and I don’t understand why it keeps going. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.”
The Trump administration&#8217;s handling of the case has sparked controversy among the president&#8217;s base as Republicans and Democrats gear up for the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats have already <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/democrats-put-previous-misgivings-hit-trump-jeffrey-epstein-files-rcna218608">latched</a> onto the issue to attack Trump, voting in the House to release the Epstein files, a move that Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-gop-rejects-claims-of-blocking-epstein-files-a-misunderstanding">called</a> a political stunt and a power grab.
Among all of the issues respondents were asked about in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump scored the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-faces-backlash-69-believe-epstein-details-concealed-reutersipsos-poll-2025-07-17/">worst</a> on his handling of the Epstein case, with just 17% of Americans approving of the job his administration has done on the issue. Thirty-five percent of Republicans said they approved of Trump&#8217;s handling of the Epstein case compared to 30% who disapproved. The rest of the Republicans polled either said they were unsure or didn&#8217;t answer the question.
Conservatives have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-pam-bondi-botched-epstein-rollout-eight-ways-from-sunday">blasted</a> Attorney General Pam Bondi&#8217;s handling of the Epstein case after the Department of Justice said last week that it did not find evidence of a client list existing and concluded that Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell in 2019. Bondi said in February that she had the client list sitting on her desk, but months later, she clarified that she meant that she was reviewing the Epstein files.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino were also reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bondi-or-bongino-bongino-wont-remain-at-fbi-if-bondi-keeps-job-source-says">frustrated</a> with Bondi&#8217;s handling of the case, and Bongino considered resigning if Bondi remained in her position. Trump said that Bondi did &#8220;very well&#8221; handling the Epstein case, and is also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hes-in-good-shape-trump-speaks-with-bongino-after-flare-up-with-bondi">continuing</a> to back Patel and Bongino as the White House attempts to smooth things over. Bongino has not resigned, and Trump said on Sunday that he&#8217;s &#8220;in good shape.&#8221; Bongino&#8217;s official X account, which is usually active, has not <a href="https://x.com/FBIDDBongino/with_replies">posted</a> since last Wednesday.
Some right-wing political commentators and Republican lawmakers have urged the administration to be more transparent with the details surrounding the Epstein case. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/15/politics/epstein-files-trump-bondi">said</a> earlier this week that he&#8217;s &#8220;for transparency&#8221; on the issue.
“It’s a very delicate subject. We should put everything out there and let the people decide it,” Johnson said.

Donald Trump and Pam Bondi

More Than Two-Thirds Of Americans Believe Government Is Hiding Details On Epstein Case: Poll

Dan Bongino

Democrats

General

kash patel

Poll

Republicans

In every single criminal trial in this country, whether the crime is petty theft or murder or anything in between, there are very clear standards that deal with video evidence. In particular, if the government wants to introduce video evidence, they have to provide all of the available footage that they have. It&#8217;s a pretty intuitive concept. So if someone robs a convenience store, and the police recover surveillance tapes from the store, then they need to turn those tapes over to the defense. The prosecution can&#8217;t modify the tapes in any way. They can&#8217;t splice different tapes together. They certainly can&#8217;t delete anything. They have to provide the raw, unedited footage to the defense team. And on top of that, they have to verify that the tapes are authentic, and that they haven&#8217;t been tampered with, by establishing a sworn chain of custody. This is about as basic as it gets. Every judge in the country  — even Ketanji Brown Jackson — can grasp this very straightforward concept. You can easily get a case thrown out of traffic court if they won&#8217;t give you all of the relevant footage they have.
On the other hand, when it comes to the single most-watched sex trafficking case in the history of the United States, this rule apparently does not apply. You can forget about &#8220;chain of custody.&#8221; And you can forget about obtaining raw footage as well. Instead, in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the DOJ produced a video that was clearly manipulated. As we&#8217;ve discussed previously, WIRED Magazine <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-fbis-jeffrey-epstein-prison-video-had-nearly-3-minutes-cut-out/">found</a> that the footage from outside Epstein&#8217;s jail cell — which the DOJ claimed was &#8220;raw&#8221; footage — had actually been edited and saved multiple times back in May of this year. Specifically, &#8220;the file was assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website.&#8221; Additionally, viewers noticed that there was a glitch when the timer in the footage moved from 11:58 to 11:59 p.m.; it seemed to jump ahead to midnight.
None of this was initially explained or disclosed by the DOJ, which again, referred to the footage as &#8220;raw.&#8221; Of course, the reason that the DOJ claimed the footage was &#8220;raw&#8221; is that they understand, as most people do, that any edits — for any reason — would immediately raise a lot of questions. There should be no need to save the file multiple times, or to combine clips. They could&#8217;ve just posted everything they had, and let the public sort it out. But the DOJ didn&#8217;t do that. It&#8217;s possible they were hoping that no one would look at the metadata, or study the videos closely.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1624-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
If that was the plan, it didn&#8217;t last very long. After the footage was posted, and Wired Magazine noticed the problem, Pam Bondi had to come up with a justification for all of the discrepancies. What she said, ultimately, is that the security system in the jail resets every night for around a minute. Therefore, we were told, there was nothing nefarious about the missing footage. It&#8217;s just a fact of life that, in one of the most secure prisons in the country, we can&#8217;t design a camera system that stays online 24/7. That&#8217;s beyond our capacity. We can land a man on the moon, but we can&#8217;t prevent the cameras from shutting down every night, just long enough to maybe allow someone to get murdered. We also can&#8217;t make sure there&#8217;s more than one functioning camera in the vicinity of this cell block.
Already, this was an unsatisfactory explanation. The DOJ didn&#8217;t actually provide proof that the system needs to go offline for a minute every night. Bondi just claimed it was normal, and we were all supposed to accept it. She also didn&#8217;t say anything whatsoever about why the footage needed to be edited in the first place. Again, this wouldn&#8217;t fly in traffic court. And it definitely doesn&#8217;t pass muster when we&#8217;re talking about Jeffrey Epstein, who had the potential to implicate the most powerful people in the world.
And yet — somehow — the story just got much, much worse for Bondi and the DOJ. It turns out that, even after they were exposed for hiding relevant information from the public about this tape, they still haven&#8217;t come forward with the full story. So it falls on WIRED Magazine, a small internet publication, to fill in even more details. Here&#8217;s what they <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-fbis-jeffrey-epstein-prison-video-had-nearly-3-minutes-cut-out/">reported</a> the other day: &#8220;Newly uncovered metadata reveals that nearly three minutes of footage were cut from what the US Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation described as &#8216;full raw&#8217; surveillance video from the only functioning camera near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell the night before he was found dead. &#8230; Further analysis shows that one of the source clips was approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds longer than the segment included in the final video, indicating that footage appears to have been trimmed before release. It’s unclear what, if anything, the minutes cut from the first clip showed.&#8221;
Before we read on further in the article, there&#8217;s simply no way to justify this. It doesn&#8217;t matter if the extra 2 minutes and 53 seconds were irrelevant. It doesn&#8217;t matter if those extra 2 minutes and 53 seconds were duplicated in another video file. In this case, and in every other case, the duty of the government is to be transparent. It&#8217;s not to save people a very small amount of time when they&#8217;re watching an hour&#8217;s worth of video footage. Any government that&#8217;s functioning properly would understand this calculation immediately. Just give people all of the information you have.
The article continues: &#8220;The nearly three-minute discrepancy may be related to the widely reported one-minute gap—between 11:58:58 pm and 12:00:00 am—that attorney general Pam Bondi has attributed to a nightly system reset. The metadata confirms that the first video file, which showed footage from August 9, 2019, continued for several minutes beyond what appears in the final version of the video and was trimmed to the 11:58:58 pm mark, right before the jump to midnight. The cut to the first clip doesn’t necessarily mean that there is additional time unaccounted for—the second clip picks up at midnight, which suggests the two would overlap—nor does it prove that the missing minute was cut from the video.&#8221; Close quote.
In other words, we can&#8217;t say definitively what&#8217;s in the three minutes of footage that were cut. It&#8217;s possible there&#8217;s nothing of interest. But there&#8217;s one way that the government could provide some more clarity. They could simply dump all of the files on the DOJ&#8217;s website, without any editing whatsoever. At the moment, no one in the Trump administration can come up with a coherent justification for why this hasn&#8217;t been done. They also can&#8217;t explain why they haven&#8217;t released &#8220;Phase 2&#8221; of the Epstein files &#8212; or the &#8220;truckload&#8221; of &#8220;documents&#8221; that Pam Bondi said the DOJ had recovered in the last few months from the Southern District of New York. She says there are graphic depictions of children on the videos that she can&#8217;t release, but she hasn&#8217;t said anything at all about any of the &#8220;documents,&#8221; beyond telling us that they&#8217;re not important. Nor has she unsealed the search warrants or financial disclosures in the case.
Instead of getting any transparency here, the Trump administration is continuing to tell us that these materials are &#8220;boring&#8221; and that we shouldn&#8217;t care about them. Here&#8217;s how the president put it yesterday:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨TRUMP: &quot;I don&#39;t understand why my supporters are so interested in Epstein. He&#39;s been dead for a long time. He was never a big factor. I don&#39;t understand the fascination&#8230;it&#39;s pretty boring stuff. I think only pretty bad people want to keep that going.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/Ca4gWS80Cs">pic.twitter.com/Ca4gWS80Cs</a>
&mdash; Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) <a href="https://twitter.com/AutismCapital/status/1945272429661634863?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Look, I know some people are annoyed at me for harping on this and criticizing the president, who in many other ways is doing a fantastic job. But I happen to believe that bringing sex predators to justice is extremely important. And I just can’t accept being blatantly gaslit by people in power, even if they’re people I otherwise support. In fact, ESPECIALLY if they’re people I otherwise support. So I must say that this answer from Trump is just simply awful. First, there&#8217;s the personal attack on anyone who asks questions, saying they&#8217;re &#8220;bad people.&#8221; That&#8217;s always a winning argument. If you want to convince millions of skeptical people that their leaders are lying to them about their behavior, then the best approach is to mock them. Works every time. Then there&#8217;s the implication that the Epstein files are &#8220;boring.&#8221; Well, in that case, release everything. Bore us to death. Then the story&#8217;s over, and everyone can go on with their lives. The 9/11 report was something like 600 pages. Parts of that document were boring. Almost no one actually read the entire thing. But it was still very important that the 9/11 report was written.
It&#8217;s extremely confusing, to put it mildly, to see the president of the United States take the opposite position. He says he doesn&#8217;t understand why people care about Jeffrey Epstein, as if it&#8217;s some kind of moral failing on our part. Yes, why would anyone care about some of the most powerful people on the planet spending time on a sex trafficker&#8217;s private island? Who could possibly be concerned about the possibility that a cabal of pedophiles and perverts is running entire countries and major corporations?
This is where the comparison to RussiaGate comes in, and it&#8217;s probably the worst part of the answer you just heard. RussiaGate was a disaster for this country precisely because we didn&#8217;t get the whole story. RussiaGate was premised on lies and distortions, at every stage. If Donald Trump made a joke at a rally, the media interpreted it as a coded message to Putin. They pretended he had a secret computer in Trump Tower that was communicating with Moscow. They said there was a &#8220;pee tape.&#8221; They claimed Russian hackers were being housed at a non-existent Russian consulate in Miami. They claimed Trump had weakened the GOP&#8217;s platform on Russia, even though the opposite was true. When Hunter Biden dropped his laptop off at a repair store, full of incriminating evidence about Joe Biden&#8217;s influence peddling operation, the media blamed that on Russia too. And on and on. RussiaGate was an utter fraud. And to the extent it was successful, it worked because the media (and the Obama administration) repeatedly lied to us. They didn&#8217;t give us information. Instead, they lied to our faces for the better part of a decade.
With Epstein, we want the opposite response from the media and the government. We want total transparency. At the end of his answer, Trump talks about filtering the documents so that we only obtain &#8220;credible&#8221; information. But that&#8217;s not the job of the government. Their job is to give us whatever information they can. Once they start assessing &#8220;credibility,&#8221; they give themselves a license to hide incriminating information. And there&#8217;s no reason to grant the government that license — no matter which political party is in charge.
That&#8217;s what makes the Democrats&#8217; sudden interest in the Epstein files so galling and intolerable. They&#8217;re obviously turning this into a dumb partisan issue, when it isn&#8217;t one. We talked about this a bit yesterday. All of a sudden, after years of complete disinterest in the entire topic, Democrats are suddenly clamoring for the release of the Epstein files — or at least, they&#8217;re publicly pretending to want the Epstein files to be released. <a href="https://x.com/adamkinzinger/status/1945107151300526218?s=46">Here&#8217;s</a> Adam Kinzinger, for example. He&#8217;s essentially a Democrat at this point: &#8220;EVERY, and i mean EVERY Republican incumbent or candidate or even anyone THINKING about running as a Republican for even dog catcher needs asked over and over and over about Epstein.&#8221;
This is a guy who spent his only significant time in Congress — the only time people knew who he was — screeching hysterically about elderly women and a &#8220;Q Shaman&#8221; walking around the Capitol Building on January 6th. That was the issue he claimed to care about. But no one actually cared about January 6th, so the whole plan backfired. So now that he&#8217;s out of office, he&#8217;s demanding that everyone talk about Epstein — an issue he didn&#8217;t seem to care about until this week.
It&#8217;s not hard to see what&#8217;s going on here. Neither party — Democrat or Republican — wants to see the full, unredacted release of the Epstein files. At a minimum, we can assume that top donors of both parties are implicated in some way. So they both want to neutralize this whole issue as quickly as they can. For Democrats, that means turning the Epstein files into yet another partisan football. They&#8217;re going to make performative efforts to get the files released, even though they know it&#8217;ll never work. For example, here&#8217;s Axios&#8217; <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/15/epstein-house-democrats-republicans-trump-doj">reporting</a> from yesterday: &#8220;House Republicans on Tuesday voted down another Democratic procedural maneuver aimed at forcing the Justice Department to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. &#8230; Democrats&#8217; procedural motion would have scuttled the GOP&#8217;s legislative agenda for the day in favor of the bill, making it difficult for Republicans to vote for it. &#8230; It came after Republicans on the House Rules Committee voted Monday night against attaching the Epstein language to a broader cryptocurrency and defense funding vote.&#8221;
Specifically, that &#8220;broader cryptocurrency vote&#8221; involved legislation that could&#8217;ve paved the way for a &#8220;central bank digital currency,&#8221; as well as restrictions on cryptocurrency ownership. Whatever you think of this bill — although it seems to be a pretty terrible idea — the fact remains that it has nothing whatsoever to do with Jeffrey Epstein. So Democrats are using this whole issue to play very transparent political games. That’s how seriously they take child sex trafficking.
But ultimately, if we&#8217;re being honest, the problem here goes back to the White House. They&#8217;ve given the Democrats this opening by bungling the situation so badly. The Trump administration seems mystified (or is acting that way) by the anger from the base. But the Epstein scandal isn’t happening in a vacuum. We haven’t seen any high profile or powerful people held accountable for their crimes. No one’s even been fired, let alone arrested, for allowing an assassin to almost kill Trump last year. Trump was elected in 2016 on a promise to “lock her up.” So when do we start locking people up? Trump himself has spent 10 years calling out many different crimes and scandals. Just this past weekend, he was talking again about the rigged election in 2020. Why hasn’t anyone been arrested or charged for any of this? What about the people who lied about the COVID shot? What about the people who funded the BLM riots in 2020? What about the cabal of unelected bureaucrats who were using Joe Biden&#8217;s autopen to sign pardons and executive orders, effectively seizing control of the federal government?
The New York Times just <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/us/politics/biden-pardon-autopen-trump.html">uncovered</a> emails from Biden officials in which they made executive decisions to sign certain documents: &#8220;Mr. Zients hit &#8216;reply all&#8217; and wrote, &#8216;I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.'&#8221; That&#8217;s a reference to Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff. That&#8217;s a sentence that no government official &#8212; other than the president &#8212; should ever write. The chief of staff does not have the authority to use the president&#8217;s signature to pardon people. But that&#8217;s exactly what happened.
That&#8217;s not to say that digital signatures shouldn&#8217;t be allowed. Various outlets, including NBC News, have tried to claim that conservatives are attacking the idea of digital signatures. But that&#8217;s not the case. If Joe Biden had said, &#8220;Use my autopen to approve these pardons,&#8221; there would be no story. But that&#8217;s not what happened. Instead, a bunch of aides got together, said they &#8220;heard&#8221; Joe Biden authorize certain things. And then, solely based on their claims about what Joe Biden wanted, they used his signature.
Republicans are saying this is a major scandal. I agree that it is. So then who will be held responsible? Who will be punished? Republicans are constantly “investigating” things. But nobody is ever punished at the end of it. Meanwhile, Democrats spent the last four years prosecuting Trump and throwing conservative activists and political advisers in prison. And now, even after the majority of Americans voted for transparency and justice, we&#8217;re not anywhere close to getting it.
That&#8217;s not going to work. It&#8217;s not what any Republican voted for in the last election. We want to see accountability. We want to know that even the rich and powerful will pay for their crimes. It hasn’t happened. And for a lot of people, understandably so, this Epstein stuff is the last straw. Give us the information you&#8217;ve been promising. Give us the information we&#8217;re entitled to. If you refuse to do that — if you insist on insulting us instead — then we&#8217;re facing a much worse outcome than Democrat control of Congress in less than two years. We&#8217;re also facing a total collapse of legitimacy in our country. You can only deny reality for so long before people decide they&#8217;ve had enough. And whatever donors or intelligence assets are being protected here, they&#8217;re not that important. They&#8217;re not worth risking a revolt. So give us the &#8220;boring&#8221; Epstein files. Publish all of the &#8220;uninteresting&#8221; footage you clipped out of those videos from Epstein&#8217;s cell block, for reasons that no one has bothered to explain. Otherwise, in the absence of transparency, people will come to their own conclusions. And when they do, whether you&#8217;re a Republican or a Democrat, you won&#8217;t like what happens next.

Jeffrey Epstein Mug Shot

Yelling At Us Over The Epstein Files Only Means That We’ll Keep Talking About The Epstein Files

Matt Walsh

Opinion

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday night that the controversy surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case is being kept alive by &#8220;pretty bad people,&#8221; including the &#8220;fake news&#8221; media.
Trump was asked about the Epstein case, which has set him at odds with much of his base over the past week, multiple times on Tuesday. On his way back to the White House after meeting with tech and energy executives in Pittsburgh, the president was asked by a reporter why his supporters &#8220;have been so interested in the Epstein story and so upset with how it&#8217;s been handled.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand it, why they would be so interested, he&#8217;s been dead for a long time,&#8221; Trump replied. &#8220;He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don&#8217;t understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don&#8217;t. The credible information has been given.&#8221;
&#8220;Don&#8217;t forget, we went through years of the Mueller witch hunt and all of the different things, the Steele dossier, which was all fake. All that information was fake,&#8221; the president added. &#8220;I don&#8217;t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It&#8217;s pretty boring stuff. It&#8217;s sordid, but it&#8217;s boring, and I don&#8217;t understand why it keeps going. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.&#8221;
&#8220;But credible information, let them give it,&#8221; he continued, referring to the Department of Justice investigation into the case.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NOW &#8211; Trump: &quot;I don&#39;t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It&#39;s pretty boring stuff. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/JL8xMR7VIU">pic.twitter.com/JL8xMR7VIU</a>
&mdash; Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) <a href="https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1945254920568873156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump unloaded on his &#8220;past supporters&#8221; in a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114863203348237352">post</a> on Wednesday morning, claiming that they are going along with &#8220;the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax&#8221; pushed by Democrats and &#8220;have bought into this &#8216;bulls***&#8217; hook, line, and sinker.&#8221;
&#8220;I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!&#8221;
Those calling for more transparency on the Epstein case include Democrats and Republicans, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/15/politics/epstein-files-trump-bondi">including</a> House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“It’s a very delicate subject. We should put everything out there and let the people decide it,” Johnson said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-backs-bondis-handling-of-jeffrey-epstein-case-insists-dems-made-up-the-files?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Backs+Bondi%E2%80%99s+Handling+Of+Jeffrey+Epstein+Case%2C+Insists+Dems+%E2%80%98Made+Up%E2%80%99+The+Files">praised</a> Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of the Epstein case, as she faces criticism from many conservatives over her handling of the investigation. Trump also cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Epstein files, saying they &#8220;were made up&#8221; by former FBI Director James Comey, along with the Obama and Biden administrations.
“And we went through years of that, with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax and all of the different things that we had to go through. We’ve gone through years of it,” he added.
The Epstein case controversy has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bondi-or-bongino-bongino-wont-remain-at-fbi-if-bondi-keeps-job-source-says">blown up</a> among Trump supporters and within the administration after the Department of Justice said last week that it did not find evidence to prove that Epstein had a client list or that powerful co-conspirators were involved in his child sex crimes. The DOJ also said that the evidence showed that Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell in August 2019.
Five months ago, Bondi promised to reveal major details in the case, and the White House even handed out binders titled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1&#8243; to right-wing influencers. Since then, no new bombshells have been reported regarding the Epstein case. The attorney general also stated in February that she had Epstein’s client list on her desk, but walked that statement back last week when the DOJ said that it did not find evidence of a client list existing. Bondi later clarified that she was referring to a file on the Epstein case, not an actual client list.
“I think that Pam Bondi botched this eight ways from Sunday. I have not seen a bigger botchery of a rollout of a story maybe ever,” Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-backs-bondis-handling-of-jeffrey-epstein-case-insists-dems-made-up-the-files?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Backs+Bondi%E2%80%99s+Handling+Of+Jeffrey+Epstein+Case%2C+Insists+Dems+%E2%80%98Made+Up%E2%80%99+The+Files">told</a> journalist Megyn Kelly earlier this week.
Conservative radio host Glenn Beck <a href="https://x.com/glennbeck/status/1945212091553444275">said</a> on Tuesday that the Epstein case matters to Trump&#8217;s supporters because &#8220;it has become a vessel to carry all the hopes and dreams that MAYBE someone will clean up Washington, DC.&#8221;
&#8220;After months of promises of transparency, after Pam Bondi TOLD US the evidence was sitting on her desk and the [U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York] was withholding information, we were told the list never even existed. We were told to move on after being LED ON,&#8221; Beck added. &#8220;That&#8217;s why we can&#8217;t be satisfied with this. It feels like the vessel has been shattered. That doesn’t mean it can’t be repaired. But the administration MUST release what they can and ask the courts to unseal their evidence.&#8221;

Trump Says Epstein Story Is Kept Alive By ‘Pretty Bad People, Including Fake News’

Executive

Trump Supporters

President Donald Trump praised Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday for her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and said that former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden &#8220;made up&#8221; the Epstein files.
Trump told reporters outside the White House that Bondi has handled the case &#8220;very well.&#8221; The attorney general has faced criticism from many conservatives who argue she botched the handling of the Epstein case.
&#8220;The credibility is very important. You want credible evidence for something like that,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;And I think the attorney general has handled it very well.&#8221;
Trump added that Bondi gave him a &#8220;very quick briefing&#8230;in terms of the credibility of the different things they have seen.&#8221;
&#8220;And I would say that these files were made up by [former FBI Director James] Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden administration,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;And we went through years of that, with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax and all of the different things that we had to go through. We&#8217;ve gone through years of it.&#8221;
The president said that Bondi should release &#8220;whatever she thinks is credible.&#8221;
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Trump says AG Bondi has done &#8220;very well&#8221; handling the Epstein case. He then suggests that the Epstein files were &#8220;made up&#8221; by Democrats, including Obama, Biden, and Comey. <a href="https://t.co/Pl8nC2IVzi">pic.twitter.com/Pl8nC2IVzi</a>
— Zach Jewell (@zach_d_jewell) <a href="https://twitter.com/zach_d_jewell/status/1945187483655827613?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Controversy surrounding the Epstein case has blown up in the administration as FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bondi-or-bongino-bongino-wont-remain-at-fbi-if-bondi-keeps-job-source-says">threatened</a> to resign last week if Bondi remained as AG. Bongino&#8217;s frustration with Bondi reportedly boiled over days after the Department of Justice said there was no evidence to prove that child rapist Jeffrey Epstein had a client list, had blackmailed powerful people, or had been murdered.
Bondi promised to reveal major details in the case five months ago, but there have been no significant new developments reported since then. Bongino, along with FBI Director Kash Patel, said in May that he reviewed the case and found no evidence that Epstein was murdered. In February, the White House released “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” handing out binders to right-wing social media influencers at the White House. The binders, however, contained no new bombshells on Epstein, his sexual crimes, or any alleged co-conspirators.
The attorney general also stated in February that she had Epstein’s client list on her desk, but walked that statement back last week when the DOJ said that it did not find evidence of a client list existing.
The White House has sought to smooth things over, with Trump continuing to back Bondi, Bongino, and Patel, while Vice President JD Vance attempts to play the peacemaker between Bongino and Bondi, <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1944775650969002147">according</a> to Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan.
Bondi has been slammed by leading conservative voices, including Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro.
“I think that Pam Bondi botched this eight ways from Sunday. I have not seen a bigger botchery of a rollout of a story maybe ever,” Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-pam-bondi-botched-epstein-rollout-eight-ways-from-sunday?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Ben+Shapiro%3A+Pam+Bondi+%E2%80%98Botched%E2%80%99+Epstein+Rollout+%E2%80%98Eight+Ways+From+Sunday%E2%80%99">told</a> journalist Megyn Kelly on Monday.
“I’m not blaming anybody who’s upset with the fact that they were told by Pam Bondi, at least by implication, that there was an Epstein list, that there were tens of thousands of hours of tapes, that there are 1,000 victims, that there was more coming. And then nothing happens, right?” the Daily Wire host said. “That seems to be on Pam Bondi.”

Trump Backs Bondi’s Handling Of Jeffrey Epstein Case, Insists Dems ‘Made Up’ The Files

They Want You To Forget About Epstein. Don’t.

They Want You To Forget About Epstein. Don't.

President Trump

The man behind a popular pro-Trump X account effectively had his conviction tossed on Wednesday, after the Biden-era <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-justice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Justice</a> was ready to imprison him for memes that mocked Hillary Clinton voters during the 2016 presidential election.
Douglass Mackey, who was charged by the Biden DOJ some four years after posting the memes in question, was facing a stunning 10 years behind bars. After the DOJ secured a conviction, Mackey was sentenced to seven months behind bars in 2023, but the sentence was delayed by an appeals court.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit reversed Mackey’s conviction and directed a lower court to enter a judgment of acquittal.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DOUG MACKEY WINS !! MEME MAGIC HAS EMERGED COMPLETELY VICTORIOUS !! <a href="https://t.co/hyJFw5rQxe">pic.twitter.com/hyJFw5rQxe</a>
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1942949310380880156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out my conviction for lack of evidence the case has been remanded to the district court with orders to immediately dismiss,&#8221; Mackey posted to X. &#8220;Hallelujah!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: THE SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS THROWN OUT MY CONVICTION FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE
THE CASE HAS BEEN REMANDED TO THE DISTRICT COURT WITH ORDERS TO IMMEDIATELY DISMISS
HALLELUJAH!
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) <a href="https://twitter.com/DougMackeyCase/status/1942947069745934603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
As reported by The Daily Wire, Mackey, who went by the Twitter (now X) alias Ricky Vaughn, was charged about a week after President Joe Biden took office — some four years after the memes were posted. While the DOJ claimed Mackey conspired to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” people from exercising their constitutional right to vote, his legal team, other legal minds, and many politicos said the memes were obviously protected free speech.
The meme the prosecution zeroed in on was published on November 1, 2016. It shows a woman holding an “African Americans for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hillary-clinton-lands-professor-and-presidential-fellow-gig-at-columbia-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Hillary</a>” sign with overlaid text reading, “Avoid the line. Vote from home. Text ‘Hillary’ to 55925.”
<div id="attachment_945037" style="width: 528px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-945037" class="wp-image-945037 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-09-at-7.45.11-PM-518x576.png" alt="" width="518" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-09-at-7.45.11-PM-518x576.png 518w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-09-at-7.45.11-PM-270x300.png 270w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-09-at-7.45.11-PM-768x855.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-09-at-7.45.11-PM.png 1170w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" />Screenshot: Twitter</div>
Mackey has the support of President Donald Trump, and others in his orbit, including Donald Trump Jr., but said after Trump won the 2024 election that he would not ask Trump for a pardon, since he was anticipating a good result on appeal.
“Since so many are asking, my team and I have not asked President Trump for a pardon at this time as we are hoping for a favorable, precedent-setting ruling in the 2nd Circuit that would prevent the DOJ from politically weaponizing the law,” he said at the time. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Since so many are asking, my team and I have not asked President Trump for a pardon at this time as we are hoping for a favorable, precedent-setting ruling in the 2nd Circuit that would prevent the DOJ from politically weaponizing the law.
Thank you everybody for your support!
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) <a href="https://twitter.com/DougMackeyCase/status/1881538008698204562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
Mackey also posted on X, &#8220;Now we sue,&#8221; suggesting a coming suit against the federal government.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Now we sue
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) <a href="https://twitter.com/DougMackeyCase/status/1942947698631442630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-doj-trying-to-lock-up-a-pro-trump-meme-maker-for-ten-years-heres-what-you-need-to-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden DOJ Trying To Lock Up A Pro-Trump Meme Maker For Ten Years. Here’s What You Need To Know.</a>

Douglass Mackey

Trump Supporter Gets Case Tossed After Biden DOJ Was Ready To Imprison Him For Memes

Trump Supporter Just Got Case Tossed After Biden DOJ Was Ready To Imprison Him For Memes

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